Thursday 15 September 2011 08.45 EDT
First published on Thursday 15 September 2011 08.45 EDT

Novelist Polly Courtney has dropped her publisher HarperCollins for giving her books "condescending and fluffy" covers aimed at the chick lit market.

Courtney self-published Golden Handcuffs, a fictional exposé of life in the City, in 2006 after quitting her job as an investment banker, following it up in 2008 with Poles Apart, about an ambitious Polish graduate who moves to London. Their success helped land her a three-book deal with HarperCollins imprint Avon, but at the launch of the third book, It's A Man's World, she announced that she would not be working with the publisher again.

Instead, she is planning to return to the world of self-publishing.

"My writing has been shoehorned into a place that's not right for it," she said this morning. "It is commercial fiction, it is not literary, but the real issue I have is that it has been completely defined as women's fiction … Yes it is page turning, no it's not War and Peace. But it shouldn't be portrayed as chick lit."

It's a Man's World (given the tagline by Avon, "but it takes a woman to run it") is set in the world of lads' mags, following the story of Alexa Harris, asked to head up a magazine, Banter, with an all-male editorial team. Subjected to "light-hearted" misogyny in the office, Alexa also finds herself the victim of a hate campaign by women's rights activists.

"I'm not averse to the term chick lit," said Courtney, "but I don't think that's what my book is. The implication with chick lit is that it's about a girl wanting to meet the man of her dreams. [My books] are about social issues – this time about a woman in a lads' mag environment and the impact of media on society, and feminism."

The jacket, which displays the chick-lit staple of a pair of slender legs, misrepresents the novel, Courtney believes. "The titles and covers have been a problem with all three of my HarperCollins books, right from the start," she said. "If I had my time again I certainly wouldn't have signed with them. There's a feeling that any author should be grateful for any attention they can get from any publisher – that they should take what they can get. But I don't think they should have looked to sign me on the basis of what I'd written so far."

Her decision to publicly ditch her publisher was the result of "three years of pent–up frustration", she said. "People are looking at my books and saying 'you've turned chick lit'," she said. "The irony is that what's inside the books hasn't changed. To give Avon their due, in terms of the editorial process they didn't try to change what's inside into something different. It's the packaging. From the reader's perspective, they'll see it on the shelf and think this is chick lit, and it's not."

The problem is not confined to Avon: when her novels were being pitched to publishers before she signed with the HarperCollins imprint, Courtney said that she was asked by editors to scrap office scenes and replace them with "handbags". The author believes that publishers are making a mistake in not listening to authors or readers. "They don't want to be patronised, and told all they want is girl meets guy. I genuinely think readers want something more meaty, something to get their teeth into. And if I'm writing that, which I am, then I want them to know that, and for there to be no pink, fluffy packaging," she said.

Speaking at the launch party, Courtney also pointed to WH Smith's recently reported decision to drop the "women's fiction" label from its point of sale after two women complained about the "condescending" practice. They were told by head of fiction Jackie Wing that "this might not be the most suitable reference for our customers" and that it would be removed from future shelf labelling.

Fellow novelist Michele Gorman, who was at the launch, said she did not have a problem with her own novel, Single in the City, being marketed as chick lit by its publisher Penguin. "In my case the jacket very accurately reflects the story," she said. "But at the end of the day, we do judge books by their covers, and if it doesn't do what it says on the tin it will have disappointed readers. Publishing houses do tend to take a single broad brush approach to books by women, for women, and we as writers don't have creative control over our covers or our titles."

A spokesperson for HarperCollins declined to respond directly to Courtney's criticisms of the publisher, saying only: "Avon is right behind Polly Courtney's timely and important book. Our experience tells us it has a great look and feel and we think Polly will be delighted when she sees it flying off the shelves."